


Soft

by trivialtrash



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Anarchist Syndicate on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Temporary Character Death, Clay | Dream is DreamXD (Video Blogging RPF), Complete, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Deity Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Dream Team SMP Headcanons (Video Blogging RPF), End God, Karl Jacobs-centric, Karl is Fine, M/M, Mentioned GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), No beta we die like Karl Jacobs at the Masquerade, One Shot, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Pining Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Post-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), The Inbetween on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Time Travel, Time Traveler Karl Jacobs, Web Series: Tales from the SMP, could be seen as platonic?, learning emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 01:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30115323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trivialtrash/pseuds/trivialtrash
Summary: DreamXD's first impression was that Karl was soft. Soft in clothing, soft in hair and soft in nature, his very soul seemed to shine with a light that made him feel soft inside.The soft smile directed him only convinced him further of Karl's softness.DreamXD's chest glowed as he returned the smile.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/Karl Jacobs, DreamXD/Karl Jacobs
Comments: 10
Kudos: 122





	Soft

**Author's Note:**

> ngl this was an attempt at fluff gone horribly wrong, I tried to end it as happy as I could, but yeah, here's my offering to the Karlwastaken tag. I'm so sorry. :,)

DreamXD isn't human. That doesn't mean he doesn't feel human things, he's tested, he does. But he also knows that he can do things humans can't. They can't seem to fly, or summon materials from nowhere and everywhere and they also die. He's never died and he doesn't plan to, not that he thinks he can. 

So you would think that humans are inferior, right? Not at all. They're amazing. They fight, they love, they create and they destroy. He watches it all happen in awe. They fight so bitterly and they feel in a way that he cannot because they have something he could never have. Something to lose. He admires the human's ability to treasure things; buildings, land, animals, objects and even other  _ people _ . 

It's the last one that amazes him more than anything, the lengths they'll go to show their love and affection and what they will do to protect one another. Including dying. 

These people taught him emotions, joy at creating with friends. A demon named Bad and his son Sapnap as well as their human (possibly mushroom descendant?) friend George took him in when he showed up to experience the overworld. He'd thrived in helping them, providing neat little materials they seemed to enjoy and his chest had glowed, literally glowed at the happy bubbly emotion he learnt that day. They also taught him sadness when they left him to return to their lives. Sadness, he found, was missing the company of others. 

Having never had it before, the absence of it felt strange. 

Anger was taught when someone approached the portal. His entire body had burned and he found himself beside the ring he knew and loved so well. It was scared and he quickly stole it away, prepared to attack whoever was there. The pig anarchist Technoblade and his bird hybrid friend Philza taught him anger and then forgiveness. They liked the portal. They admired it as he did and they didn't know it's true purpose. They vowed to watch over it in his stead. The happiness returned as he forgave them. 

Over the next few weeks with his newfound freedom of the Syndicate watching the portal, he explored more and discovered new emotions. Awe. Wonder. New biomes were incredible. New realms were even more so. He quickly decided the nether was a lot more trouble than it was worth and didn't bother sticking around. He took a quick visit home, saying hello to the Dragon and bidding her his well wishes. 

And yet despite all these realms and all these emotions, he still didn't feel the one he wanted to know most: love. The thing that built and fell empires. Clearly it was strong and powerful and he didn't understand what kind of feeling it must be to drive humans to do so many things. 

Then he met Karl. 

DreamXD isn't exactly bound by the limits of, well, anything. Physics, logic, reality, time. It was this last one that led Karl to capturing his attention. After being introduced to him the first time he didn't think too much of it. Sapnap had introduced his fiancée and that was that. His first impression was that Karl was soft. 

Soft in clothing, soft in hair and soft in nature, his very soul seemed to shine softly. The soft smile directed him only convinced him further of Karl's softness. 

DreamXD’s chest glowed as he returned the smile. 

After that he didn't think he'd see Karl again, he was exploring through time after all. Which was why he learnt surprise when he traveled back to an old town full of gunslingers and criminals and found that same soft smile. Granted, it was under a cowboy hat and the smile was more nervous than soft, but it was definitely the same soft soul. An ancestor? No, it was the  _ exact _ same. 

DreamXD learnt curiosity then, and learnt satisfaction when he cornered Karl down in a saloon to ask him for answers. And that's how he learnt Karl wasn't like other humans. 

He was a time traveler. The word and concept alone fascinated him. Someone a little bit like him. And it was the soft natured soul who made his chest glow. It felt nice to have a kindred spirit. Karl made him promise not to tell anyone and DreamXD agreed. It wasn't his place to tell anyway, he was an observer, not a storyteller. 

Karl was the one who told stories, amazingly bright and colorful with each recollection he shared with DreamXD. His eyes brightened and sparkled as he told his stories, and then he was on to the next one. DreamXD worked up the courage, feeling both anxiety, self doubt and confidence as he asked Karl if he could come with. 

Karl had never looked happier. 

And so they traveled, similar to Dream's exploration of the realms, but now with a friendly face and warm company. His chest almost always glowed when he was with Karl and he figured it was probably just a side effect from all the alteration of time. 

Of which, he wasn't the only one being affected. 

Karl was getting softer. 

But it wasn't the nice warm kind, Dream could see it in his eyes when they would get fuzzy, lost as he tried to recall a certain name or story and failed. His soul was softening too. 

The bright light of a human soul had almost been too much for DreamXD to handle at first, but he had adjusted, even when he met Karl and was nearly blinded by what laid inside. 

With each journey the light dimmed. Karl's soul was softening. DreamXD learnt worry. Karl never returned to his time, insisting that they keep pressing on and that there were more stories waiting for them in the next time they visit. 

DreamXD learnt hesitance. Usually following his whims, he felt unsure and unsafe following Karl. Not for himself, never for himself, but for this human he found so precious. The human that had taught him so many things and new emotions. He was so thankful for this human and wanted nothing more than to protect him and keep him safe. He wanted to tuck him into his cloak and return to the End, he could set Karl up in an End City, provide for his every need and keep him company. He experienced want. The desire to have that simple domesticity so bad it almost hurt. Is that what the feeling in his chest was? 

But he knew that Karl would never agree. He was a free spirit, following his heart and never looking back. DreamXD's chest didn't glow, for the first time in what seemed like forever as the pain rang throughout it. He supposed it was only fitting that Karl teach him hurt as well. 

DreamXD kept his concerns and hurt quiet, even as he watched Karl ruin himself. Even when he insisted they go to that masquerade. Just looking at the manor set every bit of his ethereal body sparkling with anxiety and the feeling that this wasn't a normal place. Something about it felt alive. Pulsating with a strange energy the screamed danger. He voiced his concerns to Karl, who laughed. He shushed DreamXD and told him he could come, only if he came along as his mask. 

DreamXD wanted to protest, how was he supposed to protect him as a small inanimate object? But in the end he yielded. Karl wasn't one to be convinced anyway. 

And then Karl had died. His worst fears come to life. Fears he didn't even realize he had. Karl taught him so many things in that moment; horror, helplessness, powerlessness, grief and overwhelming sadness. He was about to redefine sadness, when he realized it was still the same: missing someone when they were gone. 

He had turned back to his true form too late, holding Karl's body in his hands and watched as his bright green was stained red. He saw the last of the soul soften, dimming to a faint flicker until it was gone. 

It was as he watched the soul extinguish that he realized Karl had taught him the emotion he wanted to know most; love. He loved Karl. That was the only thing that explained his actions, right? The urge to do anything to protect? The warm floating glow in his chest hadn't been from the effects of the chronological manipulation. It was an effect of Karl. Karl reached in and lit his own soul aflame. Now that he felt it, he understood. For this, he would even go against the End, turn against the portal that had given him life to save Karl. But it was too late now. Or was it? 

But Karl was no ordinary human. He wouldn't just die. The stubborn and irrational thought that Karl's soul wasn't gone yet entered his head and refused to fade. He felt for the traces of the soul. He felt the afterglow of Karl's warmth, his life and his beauty all quickly fading. He followed the fade. It looked white. 

He stepped through. 

When he finished sending his body through to... wherever this was, the first thing he noticed was the calming aura. It felt like home, but so much more so. It felt like every bit of his body resonated exactly in tune with this place, like he was meant for it and meant to be here. A magnificent white castle and he felt more at home with this foreign structure than he ever had with the End. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps. DreamXD rushed to them, flying faster than he ever had, just barely resisting the temptation to punch through the castle's walls to reach them faster. 

When he found Karl again he nearly sobbed. He was completely unharmed, walking normally and appeared fine. The only real difference seemed to be the dazed look on his face, the white hoodie he had on instead of the usual purple one and the book that he was currently reading as he walked. 

"Karl!" He called out. Karl spun around and DreamXD's voice echoed throughout the magnificent halls. 

"Dream... what are you doing here?" 

DreamXD tried not to let his relief and joy fall at the monotone greeting. 

"I was looking for you, I was worried." 

Karl's eyes widened. DreamXD realized he didn't usually voice emotion in front of him. Especially not the way his voice had tremored, just barely not crying. He didn't even know if he could cry. 

"You worried," Karl repeated, sounding more like he was trying to grasp his mind around the idea. 

DreamXD nodded and to his surprise Karl laughed. How could he laugh at a time like this?! He had just died! ...Although he seemed to have a physical body and be just fine right now. Even if his soul was dangerously flickering like a candle about to run out of wax. 

"Why are you laughing?" DreamXD asked, uneasy. 

"Because you cared about me enough to follow me to The In-Between." Karl was smiling that stupidly soft smile again. 

DreamXD's chest glowed again. He didn't know what the In-Between was but he nodded, agreeing with Karl. 

"I do." 

Karl handed him the book. 

"Then will you help save me?" 

DreamXD thought the answer was obvious. 

"For you, I would follow you to the ends of the earth."

**Author's Note:**

> Also!! Feel free to come join us on the MCYT AO3 Discord! Whether you be an author looking for place to brainstorm and share your work, or a reader looking for a place to find smaller authors and great works by all sorts of people, there's a great community and server events for anyone to join :) https://discord.gg/Ea5tVA3wUF


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